LIVING
LIGHT
Frank Babb Randolph and
Christian Zapatka infuse a
1930s Arlington home with
a 21st-century vibe
By Susan Stiles Dowell
Photography by Geoffrey Hodgdon
Bare, bleached-wood floors and matte, off-white walls create
a minimal, pared-down look in the dining room (pictured here)
and living room (opposite). Designer Frank Babb Randolph
treats color—in the way of accessories, flowers and fresh
fruit—as a captivating top note.
homeanddesign.com • MAy/june 2012 123
T
he big fieldstone house occupied a quiet Arlington side street, a stalwart reminder of a time
when men went to work in suits and wives
awaited their return holding cocktails. Designer
Frank Babb Randolph met the current homeowners at a party and came over to survey their
house after they suggested it might be a true test
of his talent. The house needed Randolph’s reductive touch—a
penchant for simplifying spaces that he honed years ago under his
mentor, the great New York designer Billy Baldwin.
He started in the living room. “I substituted some of their heavy
mahogany furniture for pale Swedish pieces, reupholstered others
in lighter fabrics and replaced the carpet with a sisal rug,” he says.
“That’s when [the owner] realized how much lighter everything
looked and decided she wanted the same minimizing approach
for the second floor.” In short order, Randolph had opened the
rooms to light the couple never knew they had and adorned them
with his signature pale, neutral palette. It was a cosmetic fix,
though, and the designer knew in-depth work would be necessary
to really transform the house.
Renovation ARCHITECTURE: CHRISTIAN ZAPATKA, AIA, FAAR; Christian
Zapatka Architect, LLC; Washington, DC. INTERIOR DESIGN: FRANK BABB
RANDOLPH, Frank Babb Randolph Interior Design; Washington, DC.
RENOVATION CONTRACTOR: Mauck Zantzinger & Associates, Washington, DC.
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Christian Zapatka updated the 1930s fieldstone home (top)
with dormer windows and a remodeled front entry. He also
built full-size staircases (left) that connect all three levels with a
continuous open railing. A second-floor landing with a new French
door (above) creates a sunny vignette. Swedish furnishings from
Tone on Tone, including the foyer console and chairs and the
dining room furniture (opposite), reinforce the sense of light that
permeates the house.
The homeowners were empty nesters, long transplanted from
their hometown of Richmond to the DC area where the husband
works as a trial attorney. However, with three adult children descending frequently with their growing broods, he and his wife
were looking to do more than refresh a home of 20 years. They
didn’t shy away from the magnitude of work Randolph proposed,
which included completely revising the bedrooms and baths upstairs. “You need an architect,” he told them. “We can open up the
house, but let’s do it right by moving walls and stairs and whatever
else we need for a better flow.”
The designer introduced the couple to Christian Zapatka, a
Georgetown-based architect trained in the classical elements and
proportions Randolph likes as a backdrop for his work. “Christian
has an eye for the good bones often hidden in older houses and
knows how to bring them out,” explains Randolph.
Touring the house from top to bottom, Zapatka reimagined
an exterior architecture shed of its country-mouse demeanor. “I
saw a smart center hall Colonial inside this Pennsylvania-style
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A sisal rug and upholstery in all-white tweeds and subtle patterns
keep the living room (above) light and airy. It opens to the revamped
sun porch (opposite). During the renovation, Zapatka lifted the height
of the doorways and defined them with classically inspired millwork.
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stone farmhouse,” he recalls. Some of his exterior changes, such as
adding dormer windows and remodeling the front entry and side
porch, use classically ennobling details and deliver more sunlight
to formerly dark interiors. They achieve an update more appropriate to the home’s proximity to DC. “Basically,” says Zapatka, “we
teamed up to distinguish the house.”
Inside, the architect reconfigured the second floor to create a
spacious master suite, replacing a bath and a closet at either end
of the hallway with windows that admit light to the whole upstairs. He also expanded the home’s usable space to the attic and
basement, which were wasted on storage. Now, the attic houses
an exercise room and the wife’s office—both well lit by two new
dormers. Remodeling the basement revealed that the foundation
had settled and its concrete-slab floor had become unstable. They
lowered the floor 18 inches, exposing one long fieldstone foundation wall as a focal point to an informal family room.
Randolph and Zapatka brainstormed ways to ensure that the
newly finished levels would feel accessible to the rest of the house.
“We opened up three staircases that were enclosed or blocked by
old, outmoded rooms,” says Zapatka. “This simplified the circulation and afforded views down halls and to windows throughout the
house. We also lifted the height of the doorways and windows and
added new, classically inspired millwork.”
The old screened porch off the living room got a new foundation and was transformed into a glass-enclosed space with a classical triglyph frieze along its cornice. Sunlight and a feeling of airiness broke through. And Randolph now had the broad canvas he
needed for his pared-down, whitewashed style.
“I brought in a scrubbed look for the whole house,” he says. He
applied a matte, off-white hue from Farrow & Ball to the walls and
homeanddesign.com • MAy/june 2012 127
Once an old screened porch, the new sunroom (above) boasts an
interior frieze in a classic triglyph and metope pattern (opposite, top).
Randolph juxtaposed a weathered sideboard from Tone on Tone with
a work of modern art (opposite, bottom).
pickled the floors to create a bleached effect. The upholstery, in
combinations of all-white tweeds, textures and subtle patterns,
is easy on the eye and reflects light. “A pale room feels like it has
more space and lets in more seating,” Randolph explains.
In the sunroom, the mix includes a shimmery silk-and-wool area
rug. Randolph selected Swedish antiques from favorite sources
Tone on Tone in Bethesda and David Bell in Georgetown; their
distressed, whitewashed finishes add to the lustrous lightness that
permeates the house. Floors in the breakfast area and dining room
are bare. “A puzzle pattern of rugs would break up the flow from
room to room,” Randolph observes. “I like the cleanness of furniture legs dancing on the pale wood.”
Randolph treated color as a captivating top note. “Colors pop on a
neutral canvas,” he says. “I like bringing in select colors as accessories
and then changing them out again as the mood suits.” Trays, bowls,
and baskets hold decorative and useful objects, and pillows, artwork,
flowers and fruit provide other pops of color. These elements add
personality, moving in and out with a season, a party or a whim.
With those finishing touches, the house finally entered the 21st
century. Zapatka’s bold presentation of classical architectural elements feels modern. Randolph’s sunlit interiors convinced the wife
that she never wants curtains. “She likes seeing cleanly through the
house,” says Randolph. “I call it living lighter.” v
Susan Stiles Dowell is a writer in Baltimore. Photographer Geoffrey
Hodgdon is based in Deale, Maryland.
See before photos at homeanddesign.com. For Resources, see page 214
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“Christian has an eye for the good bones often
hidden in older houses and knows how to
bring them out.” —FRANK BABB RANDOLPH
The breakfast room doors are distinguished by new crown molding (left). During the project, the
basement was excavated more than two feet to create an inviting family room (above and top).
A stone wall reveals the home’s original foundation.
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